Home Show organizers expect to attract thousands this weekend

"Candy," said the branch manager for Sitka Spenard Builders Supply store Thursday morning while setting up the five pallets worth of display material he had shipped up for this weekend's event.

Organizers expect about 3,000 people to come to the 29th annual Home Show to visit the 70 or so builders, renovators, store owners, banks and other vendors who have set up booths at Centennial Hall.

"It's the one chance in Juneau that you have all the home-related vendors in one spot," said Alan Wilson, one of the event's organizers and the owner of Alaska Renovators.

New to the event this year is a wine tasting Friday night, which organizers said they hoped would provide a more intimate chance for vendors and potential clients to mingle.

Sunday there will be face-painting, balloon animals and other activities for kids, said Valerie Williams, an executive assistant with the Southeast Alaska Building Industry Association, the event's sponsor.

Organizers also said they are hoping that the weather stays friendly. Last year, a blizzard during the weekend of the Home Show kept people away, Williams said.

"It was awful," she said.

Wilson said the Home Show is an opportunity for them to meet with potential clients face to face and develop relationships that may pay off years down the road.

And for the attendee, Wilson said the event was a chance to see new tools and appliances that "people see on the Home Improvement Channel and they can come here and touch 'em and feel 'em."